Chennai have only themselves to blame for defeat

The Bangalore Royal Challengers snapped their long losing streak by beating the Chennai Super Kings by 14 runs at Chennai today. Rahul Dravid was a relieved man as his team finally won a match, lifting them above last placed team, the Deccan Chargers.

After Dravid called correctly and decided to bat first, the top order batsmen did not exactly set the stadium on fire. The first three wickets fell early and it was left to captain Dravid and Boucher to steady the ship.

Dravid once again proved that he belonged in this format of the game as he hit a rapid 47 runs in 39 balls. Boucher gave him company as he made 17 runs, while Praveen Kumar wielded the long handle towards the end to make 21 off 11 balls to take Bangalore to a rather small total of 126 in 20 overs.

The Chennai Super Kings got off to a tremendous start as they cruised along to 60 runs without the loss of any wickets. A fortunate incident for the visitors saw them getting their first wicket when Parthiv Patel was caught and bowled by Kumble, with the ball ricocheting off the non-striker Fleming to the bowler.

At 65 for 1, Chennai should have finished the match with ease but some senseless shot selection saw the demise of all their premier batsmen. Dhoni fell when he holed out to long on, and both Albie Morkel and Sivaramakrishnan gifted their wickets away to loose shots. The home team could have wrapped up the match with singles, and even captain Dhoni admitted later that perhaps his team was a bit too 'brash'.

Once Praveen Kumar bowled two dot balls in the final over, the match was all but over. Raina tried hard but could not get the 16 runs required in the final over to pull off what should have been an easy victory for the Super Kings.

Anil Kumble picked up the Man of the Match for taking three crucial matches and conceding only 14 runs in his quota of 4 overs.